The Michael Jackson TV comedy starring a white actor is being killed after outrage

Following the first trailer showing white British actor
Joseph Fiennes playing Michael Jackson in an upcoming comedy
TV series, "Urban Myths," the UK network behind the show, Sky
Arts, has announced that it will no longer air the episode.

The decision came following concerns voiced by Jackson's
immediate family.

Sky Arts tweeted the following on Friday:

@SkyArts 1/4 We have taken the decision not to broadcast Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon, a 30min episode from the Sky Arts Urban Myths series.

News that Fiennes was cast as the King of Pop was revealed last
January for a project titled "Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon,"
which delved into the rumored story that Jackson, Elizabeth
Taylor, and Marlon Brando got in a car after the terrorist attack
on September 11, 2001, and fled New York City to go on a road
trip.

"Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon" was to be part
of an episode in the "Urban Myths" series, which will
also feature "true...ish" stories like Cary
Grant's alleged love of LSD, and others featuring Hitler,
novelist Samuel Beckett, and Bob Dylan.

Though negative reaction to Fiennes playing the role has
been going on for a year now, it seems the latest slams on the
episode from Jackson’s nephew Taj Jackson and Jackson’s daughter
Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson led to the project being
scrapped.

Sky Arts notes in its tweets that Fiennes fully supports the
decision, but last year he did defend playing Jackson.

"I deal in imagination, so I don't think imagination should have
rules stamped on them,"
Fiennes said. "If it promotes stereotyping, then it's wrong.
I made a distinction that the Jackson project doesn't do that."

He added: "This is territory that is sensitive. One
must determine if this portrayal is one that is going to be
positive entertainment, and one that will not bring about
division and put anyone's noses out of joint, so I went with the
mind that this was a positive, lighthearted comedy."